


Danganronpa: In The Dead Of Night

by angstycatmom



Category: Danganronpa
Genre: Fan Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Fanganronpa, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:22:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23883709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angstycatmom/pseuds/angstycatmom
Summary: A group of newly graduated students from Hope's Peak Academy find themselves locked in a carnival with no way out... unless they kill each other and get away with it.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE PART ONE

Finally. After three years, the students at Hope’s Peak Academy finally graduated. They were the students between classes 80-85, meaning five whole classes had graduated after their three years in high school. Those three years had been some of the best for those students. Friendships were formed, some broken and everlasting memories were created. It really was a great feeling to finally graduate, but some students were saddened by the fact they’d probably never see some of their friends ever again. After all, each student had a different talent that led them in different directions. 

Ah, I’m sure you’re wondering what Hope’s Peak Academy is, based on my previous statements. Well, Hope’s Peak Academy is a high school for extremely gifted students who each possess a specific talent that doesn’t compare to others who may do the same thing. These students are all called Ultimates. The special title of Ultimate given to these students just further proves how talented they are at a specific thing. For example; if someone excels in a specific type of story writing ability, that means they are an Ultimate Author of sorts- just like the protagonist of our story. 

Her name is Keiko Kyashi, the Ultimate Horror Author. She is a very quiet girl with bright orange strands of hair and a pair of oval glasses propped on the bridge of her nose. Keiko isn’t necessarily a shy person; she just prefers to spend her time working on her stories rather than interacting with others. There is nothing more important to her than her stories- she will definitely make sure you know that too. 

Back to where we were- Keiko and her classmates had finally graduated from Hope’s Peak Academy and would soon be headed into the world with their Ultimate Talents to set them for life. After all, being a student at Hope’s Peak Academy guaranteed you to be successful with your talent as long as you passed the exam at the end of the year. You didn’t even have to show up for your classes, as long as you passed your exam then you were going to be set for life. Isn’t that just great?

“Keiko, please,” the high-pitched voice of a male whined. “Please come with us to the carnival tonight! It’s the last night it’s gonna be here and we just graduated! We should be celebrating!” The boy had once again whined, this time giving a light pull on the girl’s shirt sleeve.

A frown had etched its way onto the orange-haired girl’s lips. She knew that her friend was right- they should be celebrating the day they finally graduated but she was more worried about progressing her successfulness with her ultimate talent as quickly as possible. After all, you never know when your life could end and Keiko wasn’t risking anything bad happening without publishing all of her horror novels she had been working on throughout the school year. Her stories were the most important thing to her, after all. They were so special to her, that she considered them to be part of her.

“Just for a few hours, please? You don’t have to stay long; I just want you to come hang out with us for a little bit!” The boy had whined even further- something he did quite often. “Who knows when we’ll see each other again…”

The persistent boy’s name is Kai Tashiro and he holds the title of Ultimate Hockey Star. He’s going to be participating in games all over the world in the biggest and most popular team out there. He was going to leave the next day to start his journey with his new profession and really wanted to spend his last day in Japan with his closest friend. After all, Keiko and Kai and known each other basically their whole lives. Their mothers were friends for years before the two were born and after the two were born, the kids became the best of friends. They grew up with each other and had every class together since elementary.

Nothing but a soft sigh came from Keiko’s lips. She looked directly at her friend and gave a small nod before her lips parted to speak, “I’ll go with you but only for a couple of hours, okay? I have a lot to work on for my-“

“-stories? Yeah I know, Kya~” Kai hummed, content that he finally won over the girl. He usually gets his way when it comes to Keiko, because she hated to see the blonde-haired boy upset. There was nothing she disliked more than that. 

A pout formed on Keiko’s lips as she started walking in the direction of the carnival, turning her back to Kai to hide the slight dusting of red on her cheek. “I told you to stop calling me that. My name is Keiko- call me Keiko,” she murmured, quickly moving her feet away from the blonde. 

Loud laughter erupted from behind the girl as Kai quickly followed in suit of her. He loved to make his best friend embarrassed- it wasn’t often she showed much emotion towards anything other than horror, murders and cats. So, when he was able to get emotions to come from the girl, it always amused him.

~ T I M E S K I P ~

The duo had been walking around the carnival for about ten minutes when they ran into a group of Kai’s other friends from school- it seemed that everyone from Hope’s Peak wanted to spend their graduation day at the nearby carnival. Not that Keiko expected anything less- she knew that people loved the rides and food stands all around. She was one of those people who loved them as well, she just preferred to stay home and write her stories. There was so much to do with such little time.

While Kai was busy in conversation with his other friends from Hope’s Peak, Keiko looked around her to see what kind of food stands or rides were near. There didn’t seem to be much though; just a cotton candy stand and a few children’s rides. It wasn’t until the girl looked more to her left that she noticed a haunted house ride- that immediately caught the horror author’s attention.

Her eyes lit up at the sight and before she knew it, she was tugging on the blonde boy’s sleeve to get his attention- she wanted to get on the ride but she didn’t want to go alone. “Kai,” the girl spoke in a voice just loud enough for him to hear as she pulled on his shirt sleeve once again. “Can we get on that ride?”

The Ultimate Hockey Star turned away from his other friends and looked at the orange haired girl who had been looking back and forth between him and the haunted house ride. He rose an eyebrow in confusion as to why the girl wouldn’t just go alone.

“Keiko, you’re a big girl, if you wanna get on it then go ahead,” he chuckled, giving a light shake of his head. He wasn’t the biggest fan of scary or horror related things- the complete opposite of the author. “You know how I feel about those kind of th-“

“-you have to get on it with me,” Keiko’s voice was surprisingly kind of stern and determined as she spoke, eyes focused directly on her friend.

Kai was immediately taken aback by the stern voice that came from the orange haired girl- he had never heard her speak like that to him- to anyone, for that matter. She was usually the sweet girl who was always kind and soft when she spoke- it was unusual for her voice to sound different than normal. 

“Why do I have to get on it with you, Kya?” He questioned, full attention falling on the author. 

It was then, that she noticed all of the Kai’s other friends from school were looking at her with questioning glints in their eyes. Immediately, she felt uncomfortable with the amount of attention she was receiving- especially since it wasn’t exactly a good kind of attention she was receiving. 

Keiko left go of the sleeve of Kai’s shirt, gaze falling to the grassy area at her feet, “you’re the one who forced me to come here, the least you could do is get on the ride with me.” Her voice came out soft like it normally did, the stern attitude immediately dissipating. She hadn’t even realized how forceful she sounded- gosh, Keiko. 

The blonde immediately felt guilty for what he had done because the girl was absolutely right- he did basically force her to join him at the carnival, it wouldn’t be nice of him to just not get on a ride with her. Even if it was something he wasn’t very fond of, he would do it because it was for his best friend. He’d do anything to make her happy. No matter what.

“I’ll get on that ride with you,” a soft and sweet-sounding voice of a girl spoke directly to the author.

Keiko lifted her gaze to look at the owner of the voice to find a girl with purple hair tied into pigtails, black ribbons holding the hair in place. The author had never seen the girl around before, so she was confused as to why she’d be willing to get on a ride with a complete stranger. Isn’t that dangerous? You know, you should never do things with people you don’t know!

“I apologize, I know we do not know each other but I heard you say you’d like to get on that ride and since it is a ride for a pair, I would love to ride with you,” a wide smile began to form on the girl’s lips as she looked down upon the orange haired girl. “As you can tell, I do not have anyone as my partner for a ride, and you look too precious to ride alone!” The girl cooed, bringing her hands to the side of her face as she stared at the shorter girl.

All that Keiko felt at that moment was confused- who was this strange girl who offered to get on the ride with her and why did she call her precious? She glanced between the purple haired girl and Kai, waiting to see if her friend would say anything but he seemed to remain silent the entire time with a blank expression on his face. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Why was he just staying still?

“If your friend doesn’t mind, would you like to get on the ride with me?” The pigtailed girl removed a hand from her face and placed it out in front of her for the author to grab. “I promise I do not bite, the cards just told me I would have a fateful encounter today and I think you are my fateful encounter, Miss Horror Author.”

It was then, after those words, that the orange haired girl realized who the person ion front of her was. They weren’t in the same class or anything, but the girl had been quite popular amongst the other classes. Her name is Malee, the Ultimate Tarot Card Reader. She was part of class 82 and had one of the highest passing grades of their entire classes- yes, of all classes 80-85. 

Immediately after that recognition, a small blush appeared on the author’s cheeks- she got embarrassed easily around new people. Especially people that were taller than she was. 

“It’s up to Kya, but I don’t mind- scary stuff isn’t really my kind of thing anyway,” although the words coming out of his mouth seemed more relaxed, the expression on Kai’s face remained blank. Did he not like the tarot card reader? Did they know each other? So many questions with so little answers.

The smile on Malee’s face turned into a grin, hand still out for the author to take at any moment, “so what do you say, Miss Horror Author? Would you like to join me on this ride?”

For a short moment, a frown etched its way onto Keiko’s lips at the thought of her best friend not wanting to get on a ride with her, but the frown quickly disappeared and she focused her attention on the purple haired girl’s outstretched hand. She lifted her arm up and placed her sleeve covered hand onto the outstretched hand of the tarot card reader’s. Keiko just had to accept that Kai doesn’t like scary things and didn’t want to get on the ride with her.

“Great! Let’s go then, Miss H-“

“- please just call me Keiko,” the orange hair girl cut off the other girl quickly. “My name is Keiko, please call me Keiko.”

With a nod of the head, Malee obliged, “alright Miss Keiko, let us move along to the ride!” She took a strong hold of the author’s sleeved hand and began skipping towards the haunted house ride. 

Keiko’s eyes grew wide at the speed of the tarot card reader but she caught her feet and quickly followed after Malee- after all, the pigtailed girl did have a hold of her hand. As the two were heading towards the ride, Kai, who had been staring at the duo, removed his gaze from them and focused back on his friends in front of him.

She should be okay, he thought.

Back to the girls, they were at the front of the line for the ride, just awaiting the return of the carts that they would be sitting in. Keiko was anxiously looking around, not sure what to do or say. She’s not very good at talking with new people- especially since the person she is with at the moment is someone she had never met before. Not to mention the way Kai just had no problem with her joining someone else for a ride. Keiko went to the carnival to spend time with her best friend, not a complete stranger.

“You know, you can talk to me.” Malee spoke suddenly, bringing the author back to reality and not deep in her thoughts. “We don’t know much about each other.. but we went to the same school, and now we’re going on a carnival ride together! I’m a nice person, I promise,” she flashed a wide grin at the quiet Keiko.

While the orange haired author was grateful that the pigtailed girl was kind, she still wasn’t comfortable enough to just speak to her yet. Besides, Kai was supposed to be the person getting on the haunted house ride with her. Not the person standing right in front of her. It wasn’t like the author disliked Malee or anything, she just really wanted to get on the ride with her best friend. They were supposed to spend the day together, after all. It was Kai who forced her to go anyway.

Just as Malee was about to open her mouth and speak to Keiko once again, the cart had come back to the front of the line, meaning it was their time to get on the ride. It was quite a large haunted house ride, big enough for sixteen people each time around- it was almost like a roller coaster in size but wasn’t an actual roller coaster. 

The gate in front of the tarot card reader screeched open, allowing the two girls to get on. Malee had dragged the shorter girl to the very back cart where they got in their seats and buckled up tightly. Other people had started to gather on the ride and within a minute, fifteen people had boarded the haunted house ride. There was room for one more person but it seemed that nobody else wanted to get on-. oh well.

The person in charge of the ride had closed the gate separating the line from the cart and picked up the tiny microphone to speak to those now seated on the ride. “Keep your hands, feet and all objects inside the cart at all times. There are some flashing lights and jump-scares so if you’re scared easily, please let me know so you can-“ the young girl in charge of the ride stopped talking and turned to someone in one of the front carts. “I’m sorry sir but you cannot have that on this ride, please hand that to me until the ride is over.”

The person in question was holding a doll in their hands and refused to let go of it, even after the worker asked politely for it. It wasn’t hard to tell that the female worker had dealt with things like this before, but she tried her best to remain polite and positive. After all, she was only doing her job.

“Don’t worry about that, Haruhi,” a shorter male had appeared next to the female worker, wearing the exact same uniform as she was. “It’s shift switch so I’ll deal with this, okay? You’re needed over at the carousel right now anyways,” the male explained.

Haruhi let out a short sigh of relief before removing herself from the current situation and exiting through the worker’s station area. Within a few moments, she had disappeared completely, leaving the short male to be in charge of the current situation at hand. Although, it seemed as though the male didn’t really care about the situation at hand because without saying anything, he pressed the button to start the ride up.

There were some confused whispers amongst the people on the ride but the two in the back just stayed silent. Keiko was grateful that Malee finally understood she didn’t want to speak at the moment and just backed off- besides, the ride had started and the author wanted to immerse herself in the haunted house. She loved spooky things, after all.

Of course, the silence that the orange haired girl had hoped for didn’t last too long.

“My favorite part of the ride is coming up very soon,” the pigtailed girl looked over at the author, smile wide on her face. “I’m sure it’ll be your favorite part too!” Malee exclaimed before focusing her eyes forward, not meeting Keiko’s gaze.

With a shrug of the shoulders, the author kept her gaze forward, watching the little skeletons and spiders hanging from the walls and ceilings. So far, it wasn’t very scary but there was a tunnel coming up so things were bound to get better, at least, that’s what the orange haired girl had hoped. 

As the cart slowly approached the darkened tunnel, a strange feeling rushed over Keiko- something didn’t feel right. She isn’t the type of person to have gut feelings often at all but she had gotten a strong feeling in her gut that something was wrong. Almost as if something bad was about to happen to them.

And that’s when it happened.

The moment the cart was completely in the tunnel, a metallic sounding door shut behind them and the cart stopped moving in its entirety. Then a weird fog seemed to appear from somewhere in the room, making it hard for the group of people to breathe. Keiko anxiously looked around but it had been hard to see- they were in pitch black darkness. Before the author knew it, she began to get drowsy, her ears were ringing nonstop and she felt a strange urge to close her eyes and sleep. 

And that’s exactly what she did.


	2. Prologue: Part Two

Everything was completely hazy and dark- like a pit of nothingness. Keiko could feel her body and could think properly so she knew she had been awake at that point, but for some reason it was too dark for her to see anything. She even lifted her hand up to her face to see if she could see its outline but that was a bust. All she saw was the darkness. But she wasn’t alone- she could feel that there were others near her. 

Oh yeah, speaking of… What happened? The author’s mind was racing, trying to remember what happened before she ended up in the pitch-black darkness that she found herself in. It was very vague but she did remember being at a carnival and getting on a haunted house ride with Malee. They entered a tunnel and suddenly blacked out- that was all she could remember. She had no clue how she got to where she was or what that “where” was, exactly.

Then suddenly, a bell rung throughout the room Keiko was in- it had to have been a large room because the ringing sound of the bell echoed for a couple of seconds.

Ding Dong, Bing Bong

Then, amidst the darkness, a large screen had lit up at the very end of the building- the screen was so large it seemed to be the entirety of the wall. Thanks to the bright light shining out of nowhere in the completely dark room, the orange haired girl seemed to go blind for a short moment. Being in darkness then seeing a bright light is not easy on the eyes, especially when it happens so suddenly.

It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the light, but once they were adjusted, Keiko was able to make out other figures in the large room with her- she had assumed they were the other people on the ride with her. That must also mean that Malee is here! The author thought, eyes darting around but not really being able to make out the silhouettes. After all, the room was still pretty dark besides the lit-up screen.

Speaking of said screen, there didn’t seem to be anything visible on it besides the background of a ring lit up in flames. It seemed like a still image at first but if you looked closely enough, you could see the flames moving. Almost like… it was live footage of somewhere. Where exactly, the girl was unsure because she hadn’t even known the location of where she was currently at. All she knew is that it was some sort of large building.

“Please exit the Main Tent using the door at the bottom left of the screen and head straight until you see a purple and grey striped tent,” a voice seemed to speak from the large screen but there hadn’t been anyone visible to even speak. Maybe they were off screen speaking the whole time? “I don’t wish to rush you but please, the quicker you get here, the quicker I can explain everything to you! MeeHeeHee!” The voice gave out a childish giggle before the screen completely shut off.

Once again, they were left in compete darkness. This time, however, the darkness didn’t last long. Within a mere blink of the eye, the entire room they were in completely lit up. It was the second time it took Keiko’s already poor eyes to adjust to such a bright light. Once she had adjusted to the light for the second time, though, she was met with a familiar looking purple haired girl looming over her- the author forgot that the tarot card reader was taller than she was. 

The worrisome expression was evident on Malee’s face as she looked down at the completely and utterly confused orange haired girl who seemed to be struggling to see properly. Without uttering a single word to the shorter girl, Malee grabbed onto the sleeved hand of the author and began dragging her towards the exit door they were informed about. She didn’t want to leave Keiko behind and since everyone else was already basically out of the room, she felt it was her duty to bring the author with her. Besides, she considered them to be friends and one thing Malee hated was leaving friends behind.

It didn’t take Keiko long to realize that she was being dragged, so she quickly snapped out of her confused daze and began moving her legs properly to keep up with the steps of the taller girl. She was unsure why everyone was listening to the words of some unknown person so easily, but realized it was better to just go along with things instead of question it just yet. After all, maybe it was just a surprise party for their graduation? That is, if the other people that were in the room with her were Hope’s Peak graduates. She didn’t get a good look at their faces so she had absolutely no clue.

“Wait, where was the door again?” Malee questioned, noticing the door that she thought she had previously seen opened, was now closed and not visible to her eyesight.

Without giving it a second thought, Keiko lifted her free sleeved hand towards the bottom left corner of the giant screen. She was utterly confused about everything but remembered the childish sounding voice say the exit door was at the bottom left corner of the giant screen. 

A nod of understanding came from the tarot card reader who approached the area. Up close, you could tell it was a door but the doorknob was the same color of the door so it was only something you could see up close. Malee lifted her free hand towards the doorknob and gave it a twist then pushed it open. She walked out first, causing her to let go of the author’s sleeved hand. Keiko was following in suit behind her, making sure to close the door before they left.

In front of the exit door was some sort of fabric hanging over, something they were probably meant to walk through. After all, the person talking on the screen did tell them that the place they were at was called the “Main Tent” so they must’ve been at the carnival still. That was the only logical answer that came to the orange haired girl. So, without a second thought, she stepped through the hanging fabric. The sight beyond that point was not something she had ever expected to see.

Carnival tents of every shape, size and color seemed to be within view. Some were fully illuminated in a bright light while others were completely blacked out- maybe those were to come in handy later. Besides the many tents, there was a large castle-looking structure in the distance that had a strange, glowing red mark at the very top of it. That wasn’t the strangest of things that the girl saw, though. She noticed it was nighttime. Stars were glittering across the dark abyss above, almost in a taunting way. Looking up at the sky was when the feeling set in once again.

Something wasn’t right.

It had been the second time that day that Keiko had a very strange and anxious feeling set in. The first time was when they were on the ride and passed out and the second time being right then while she was gazing at the night sky. How long had they been passed out? What caused them to pass out? Why did it happen? Where are they? Just… What was going on?

“Come on Miss Keiko, we don’t want to show up later than everyone else,” the sweet-sounding voice of Malee had broke the author from her daze.   
It was at that point that the orange haired girl had come back to her senses- she really did just stare off into the sky with that eerie feeling in her stomach. Something definitely wasn’t right. Keiko wasn’t the type of person to have gut feelings often but when she had them, she knew to trust them. And her gut was telling her that something was about to happen- something bad. 

However, the author chose to push that feeling away- maybe she was just nervous about what was going on. Maybe there wasn’t anything bad to begin with and she was panicking for no reason whatsoever. That’s what she chose to believe, at least. That way, she wouldn’t freak herself out if things weren’t as bad as they seemed.

So, without giving her gut feeling another thought, she proceeded forward with Malee towards the “Main Tent” as it was called by whomever was on screen. All they had to do to get there was go forward once they exited the tent they were currently in. Apparently, it was straight ahead and was purple and grey striped. Based on the description given to the girls, it seemed to be the biggest tent out of the other ones they saw- definitely earned the title of “Main Tent.”

As the two girls were walking towards the tent, Keiko noticed smaller shack-looking tents have different symbols on them. One had a hammer, the other a picture of nail polish. She was unsure of what it was for, but figured she would get her answers once they reached the Main Tent and got everything explained to them- that’s what the author hoped would happen, at least. 

Finally, after a little bit of walking, the two had come upon the purple and grey striped tent. It gave off an eerie sort of aura, similar to the feeling the orange haired girl felt when she was looking up at the starry sky. Whatever her gut feeling was telling her, it was something about that tent- it just had to be. She had no other explanation for how she was feeling at that very moment. 

“Are you okay, Miss Keiko?” The tarot card reader asked, noticing the uneasy look spreading across the author’s face. She was just about to enter the door to the Main Tent but noticed there was something off about the author. “You don’t look too well,” Malee added, noticing the paleness of the shorter girl’s skin on her face.

Without saying a single word to the pigtailed girl, Keiko quickly rushed inside the structure, wanting the uneasy feeling to disappear- she had assumed that entering the tent would make the uneasy feeling disappear.

Oh, how wrong she was about that assumption.

When she entered the tent, she was greeted by a group of complete strangers sitting on what looked to be bleachers. All eyes darted towards her- and Malee who entered in shortly after her. Of course they were the last people to arrive, at least, that was what the author had assumed. But after her uneasy feeling incident, she learned to not trust her assumptions much anymore. 

“Oh look, the last two finally arrived,” a male with long, blue hair rolled his eyes. He hadn’t been waiting for long, but he was still irritated about the late arrival because he had things he needed to do. All he wanted was for the explanation to end so he could leave.

A girl with brown hair tossed up in a pony tail hit the back of the blue-haired male’s head, “no need to be rude, we all want to get out of here as quickly as possible,” she spoke in a very calm and soothing voice. “They weren’t even that much later than you- since you were the last to arrive before these two did.”

The male just scoffed and remained silent- he didn’t feel like arguing with anyone at the moment because that would just be more of a waste of time. 

“MeeHeeHee! Everyone is finally here!” The same squeaky, high-pitched voice from earlier had spoken up. “If you could please take a seat on the bleachers, I will be out in just a moment!”

Instead of protesting against said voice, Keiko began making her way towards the bleachers with the pigtailed tarot card reader following in suit. She chose to sit on the very bottom part of the bleachers- since she was afraid of heights- while Malee sat at the very top of the bleachers. All that there was left to do was wait for the owner of the squeaky voice to come out and explain everything to the group of people.

There was small chattering going on between some of the people but Keiko remained silent. She liked to keep to herself for the most part, besides, she doesn’t even know what’s going on at the moment. It would be better for her to stay silent that talk to someone who isn’t a good person- she can usually tell someone’s personality based on the first thing they say to her. It doesn’t happen all of the time but more often than not. That was probably due to her being a horror author. She had to know her character’s personalities well when making them, after all.

“Alrighty~ Sorry about the wait, kiddos~!” The squeaky voiced returned and within a blink of the eye, a lion-looking plushie appeared on the ground in front of the bleachers where the people were seated. “My name is Ellekemi and I am your oh-so-adorable caretaker! I’ll be keeping an eye on you guys while you stay here at the Carnival of Twisted Dreams!”

Keiko immediately rose an eyebrow at the name of the carnival- who would name such a fun and child-friendly place Twisted Dreams? It just didn’t seem right. The more the author thought about it, she noticed the plushie looked very… odd. It was split down the middle with two different color schemes. It almost looked like it was ripped in half then sewn together with another lion plushie. That, however, wasn’t the most pressing issue on the girl’s mind.

“Did that stuffed animal just fucking speak?” The same blue-haired male from earlier blurted those words out, probably not even realizing he said them. He said what everyone was thinking though- how did that plushie speak? 

Strangely enough, the expression on the lion plushie changed from a smile to what seemed to be a frown. “I am not just a stuffed animal, you know! I am your caretaker! Please treat me with care and respect while you guys are here,” the lion’s voice came out high pitched and squeaky even though it sounded sad… is that normal?

“What do you mean while we’re here?” A deep voiced female with a top hat asked, although her face held a blank expression. “You’re making it seem like we are going to be here for a long time or something,” the girl explained her question further, still no sort of expression showing on her face.

The frown on Ellekemi’s face immediately switched to a devious sort of smirk- whatever it was, it sent chills down the author’s spine. “You are going to be for a while. At least, as long as it takes,” she mumbled that last part, but it was still able to be heard by the rest of the people in the room.

“What do you mean as long as it takes?” This time a girl with soft pink hair spoke up, confusion clear as day on her face. She opened her mouth to speak again but before she was able to get any words out, the lion plushie quickly spoke.

“I will explain everything after I take attendance, is that okay?” Annoyance was clear as day in the lion’s voice. Everyone chose to be quiet after that because the red mark where an eye should be started glowing- whatever it was, it didn’t look pleasant. “Thank you. Now, when I say your name and ultimate talent, please say here so I can make sure we have all fifteen of you,” Ellekemi explained as she pulled a notepad out of nowhere. 

“Keiko Kyashi, Ultimate Horror Author.”

The orange haired girl looked over at the lion plushie and slowly lifted her sleeved hand in the air, “here,” she spoke just loud enough for Ellekemi to hear. With a nod of the plushie’s head, she marked off the author’s name.

“Malee, Ultimate Tarot Card Reader.”

“Present and here, Miss Ellekemi,” the pigtailed girl spoke in her sweet voice, giving a slight smile to the stuffed lion- Malee was too kind to everyone, a talking lion plushie included.

“Sousuke Ito, Ultimate Drummer.”

The blue haired male from earlier lifted both of his drum sticks in the air and hit them together a couple of times, “right here, dumbass,” he caused a couple of chuckles due to his introduction.

“Okay then… Bari, Ultimate Mascot.”

Someone in a white and pink bunny costume stood up and started waving their arms in the air. “Bari says you can do it! Go team!” They ended their introduction by blowing a kiss to the air. 

“Rini Nakamura, Ultimate SFX Artist.”

“Right here, baby,” a bigger set girl gave a wave to the stuffed plushie, definitely making her presence known. “I hope we can all be friends!”

“Karou Amano, Ultimate Piercer.”

A short boy with cotton candy pink hair lifted his hand up like Keiko previously did before speaking, “right here. Let me know if anyone wants anything pierced, I can give you a discount.”

“Aki Hirai, Ultimate Roller Derby Player.”

“Fuck yeah, here I am, bitches,” a girl with half pink, half black hair stood up. She lifted both hands in their air and turned her fists into middle fingers. “Feel free to play a round of roller derby with me, but if you end up bloody and bruised, don’t go crying to your mommies,” she laughed loudly before fixing the snapback on her head.

Aki seemed like the complete opposite of Keiko, so the author decided to keep her distance from that girl. Nothing personal, the orange haired girl just can’t stand someone with such a cocky attitude and overbearing personality.

“Jiro Yamazaki, Ultimate Zookeeper.”

A boy with an eyepatch covering his left eye spoke a simple, “here,” before going back to glancing around the Main Tent.

“Chizue Otake, Ultimate Doll Painter.”

The same girl with the brown-haired ponytail from earlier rose her hand in the air. “I am present,” she gave a short smile before going back to her blank expression she held before.

“Taru Kimoto, Ultimate Ventriloquist.”

“I am Lulu, please call me Lulu,” the person with the doll on their hand began speaking through the doll. Their mouth never seemed to moved when they spoke, making it seem like the doll is the one doing all of the talking. “Taru Kimoto is no longer existent. I am only Lulu.”

Ellekemi reached her brown paw up to her head, giving it a light scratch in confusion. “Um, okay. We can change your preferred name to Lulu. Moving on,” she mumbled, looking down at the next name on the list.

“Ah yes. Hotaru Umeda, Ultimate Waitress.”

The blonde girl who couldn’t stop smiling stood up and gave a wave to everyone. “Hello everyone! I’m Hotaru and I would love to be your friend! Just like Rini said!” Her smile only seemed to grow as she spoke. She was a definitely the kind of person Keiko could see herself befriending. 

“Itsuki Goya, Ultimate Ice Sculptor.”

“Heya, you’re all looking stunning today and I would love to get to know you all better,” the boy with the glasses spoke, attempting to be charming. “Especially you, Aki.” 

The roller derby star let out a fake gag at the thought of even being near the white and blue haired boy. “No thanks, I’ll pass on that one tiny,” she chuckled, looking directly at the smaller boy. “I like my men with muscles, not some little noodle.”

Itsuki completely ignored her rude comment about him and smiled at her. He already seemed to be in love.

“Next, we have Enmei Bando, Ultimate Nail Tech.”

The boy with the bright clothing stood up and gave a peace sign to everyone. “Here I am, the cutest nail tech you’ll ever meet! I’d love to paint everyone’s nails!” 

Another person that Keiko could see herself befriending. He seemed very friendly and looked like the type of person that would be patient with the orange haired author who has to warm up to others before speaking to them.

“Masako Koyama, Ultimate Undertaker.”

“Here,” the expressionless girl with the top hat who spoke before rose a hand in the air. “Please hurry this up so we can get to why you said we will be here for a long time.”

Ellekemi ignored the words spoken from the undertaker and looked at the final name on the list. “Alright, this should be the last person. So far, everyone else here is on the list so things are already off to a pretty good start. Okay so…”

“Sana Yoshida, Ultimate Taxi Driver.”

The girl with curly, soft pink hair from before grinned widely and gave a small wave of her hand. “Right here, Ellekemi! I hope I can be of assistance to everyone!”

Everything immediately went silent after Sana finished speaking. For some reason, the mood completely changed. Nobody knew why, but everything immediately changed and that eerie feeling set in Keiko’s gut once again. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. There were silent glances being passed back and forth between each and every ultimate in the group, the uneasy feeling started to spread to the others as well.

That’s when it happened; the thing that was giving Keiko the eerie feeling finally peaked through the curtain like an acrobat about to perform the final act. 

“Now you have to kill each other if you wish to leave the Carnival of Twisted Dreams.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please let me know how this is doing!!


	3. Prologue: End

That had to be some sick joke. There was no way that those words the lion plushie were speaking were true, there was just no way. They had to kill? Each other? To leave the carnival? Those words seemed like a mere joke, there was no way they’d be forced to do such an atrocious thing. Killing? Not only was that illegal, it was also not something you’d have to do to leave a carnival. It had to be a joke- maybe a graduation prank or something.

“Wh-what do you mean? We have to kill each other to- to leave?” The cracked voice of Hotaru was the only thing to bring the rest of the group back to their senses. They weren’t imagining the words spoken by the half-monochrome lion. Those words were real. “Th-this is a joke, right?” 

A devilish sort of laugh erupted from Ellekemi, who couldn’t help but fall to the floor in her laughter. “Why would it be a joke? I never joke about killing! MeeHeeHee!” Her laughter was ringing throughout the ears of the graduates.

Keiko couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Was she really being forced to do such an atrocious thing? There was no way that was possible. That wasn’t how things were supposed to go. She lifted her sleeved hands up to her ears to block out the laughter, but to no avail. She still heard the laughter, the taunting and devilish laughter. All she could do was cover her ears and block out the sound. There was nothing else she could do but that, and try to find her happy place. As long as she focused on her happy place, she would be okay.

At least, that was what she hoped.

Ellekemi’s laughter eventually faded away and she managed to stand up properly once again. She used her paws to dust off herself- as If it really mattered since she was a stuffed animal, after all. Then, she proceeded to clap her paws together, creating a clapping sound that two hands would create. She was trying to get the attention of the ultimates because there was more to explain than just them having to kill each other to get out. 

“Everyone, please,” the squeaky voiced was raised, just loud enough for everyone to hear throughout the panicking. “There is more I have to tell you so if you could please listen to me.”

Someone gave a slight nudge to Keiko’s side, causing her to look to her left at the culprit. She noticed it to be the Ultimate Piercer. He was gesturing for the author to remove her hands over her ears, which she obliged in doing. It was then, the orange haired girl noticed the laughter was gone. There was no more of that horrendous sound- it really was the worst.

“Now that I have everyone’s full attention, I have more to explain to you,” the lion plushie spoke, the tone in her voice now sounding oddly strict. “You are not being forced by anyone to kill; you can do that at your own will. If, however, you choose not to partake in a killing, then you are forced to stay within this carnival forever. It isn’t the worst thing, so if you don’t wish to kill, you get to spend the rest of your lives within these colorful tents.”

The more the stuffed animal spoke, the more Keiko’s head began to spin aimlessly. She was told that nobody was forced to kill, but if they don’t kill then they’re stuck inside the carnival? It seemed like they had no other choice but to murder. Of course, the orange haired author would never do that. If she didn’t have a choice, she would much rather stay within the confides of the carnival tents then to commit murder on someone. 

“That seems like we have no other choice than to fucking kill, then,” Aki’s brooding voice spoke out, bringing the attention to her. She had stood up from her seat on the bleachers, arms crossed over her chest in a very angry fashion- definitely not someone to be messed with. “If that’s the case then let me get rid of Itsuki so I can fucking leave,” she started moving up the bleachers towards the small boy.

It was very sudden, but within a couple of seconds, Aki was holding Itsuki by the throat, holding his body in the air. The smaller body of the ice sculptor was wiggling around in the girl’s grasp- he was definitely being suffocated. Someone chose to step in and tried removing the roller derby star’s hand around the boy’s neck; it was Rini. 

“Ah ah ah. I wouldn’t do that right here if I were you, Aki~” Ellekemi’s voice, once again, became the main focus of the group. She changed into a sitting position; her legs crossed on the floor while her paws were resting on the sides of her face. 

The grasp that Aki had on Itsuki’s throat only tightened by the slightest after Ellekemi spoke. “Oh yeah? And why the fuck not? Hmm?” While she seemed to be taunting the lion plushie, Rini was trying to remove the darker skinned girl’s hand from around the pale boy’s throat. 

“Because… If you kill him here and now, everyone will know it was you who did it and you’ll be executed without a problem!” The stuffed animal giggled, noticing the immediate change of facial expression on the roller derby star. 

Without a second thought, Aki let go of Ituski’s throat. That caused the boy to- almost- fall on the bleachers. Thankfully, Rini was there and she caught him before he completely fell so no serious damage was done to the ice sculptor. He was, however, a little dazed from having the life nearly forced out of his body from the roller derby star’s strong grasp.

“What do you mean, executed without a problem, huh?” She crossed her arms over her chest, acting as if she wasn’t just strangling the pale boy. “You’re the one who said if we kill someone, we can get out of here and I would much rather kill this creepy fuck over here then to rot in a hellhole like this.”

Noticing the anger that the darker skinned girl had just caused the stuffed lion to let out a small hum. She was definitely enjoying how things were proceeding so far. “If you wish to kill, go ahead. But after you kill someone, you have to get away with it. Meaning- your fellow graduates will investigate and try to figure out who killed said person. If they can’t figure out it’s you, then you survive and everyone else dies.” A creepy smirk then appeared on the face of the stitched-up lion. “But if everyone figures out you killed said person, then you will be executed. Everyone will get to continue living their lives in the carnival until they grow old or another murder happens.”

All the words being spoken were getting tougher and tougher for the author to comprehend. Kill? Investigate? Execution? None of it was making sense to her. It was almost like a horror story brought to life. It definitely wasn’t something normal that would happen to anyone. Keiko had a hard time believing it as it was, but judging by her gut feeling and the events leading up to their current predicament, she had no choice but to believe what was going on. She either had to kill someone and get away with it or live the rest of her life out in a carnival- wait. A question just popped into the author’s head, something that may contradict what Ellekemi was speaking.

“Um, I have a question,” after Keiko spoke those few words, all attention then focused on her. She didn’t really pay mind to it though; her gaze was focused on the lion plushie. 

“Yes? What is it?” Ellekemi hummed, intrigued that the author out of all people had a question for her. 

Keiko gave a slight glance around to everyone in the tent, then focused her full attention back on the stuffed animal. “You said we would be forced to live the rest of our lives here, but how will we do that without food? Or a place to sleep? Or a place to take care of hygiene?”

After those words were spoken by the orange haired girl, a wide grin fell upon the half monochrome lion. “I’m so glad you asked that question, Keiko~!” Ellekemi exclaimed, standing up almost immediately after speaking. “This carnival is actually fully equipped with everything you’ll ever need to live your lives out here. Food gets restocked every day, there is a tent that’s basically a marketplace where you can find everything for hygiene and there’s a tent made just for you guys to rest in.” She explained, noticing the still confused faces of the graduates- maybe she didn’t explain everything well enough. “For example, the tent that you guys were all in when you woke up is the Cafeteria Tent. There is a kitchen in the back of the tent that holds all of the food that gets restocked. And you all have your own designated tents to sleep in. They have plaques out front with your ultimate talents plastered on them. It really shouldn’t be hard for you guys to figure out.”

All of the hope that the author held for a possible loophole for an escape disappeared after the lion finished explaining everything to the group of fifteen students. Whomever forced them to partake in this cruel thing definitely planned everything out beforehand- there would be no other way they’d have enough food to continue restocking every night. Or to have enough supplies in general for such a long time like that.

“Now, I think it’s about time for you kiddos to head to your tents for some rest. It’s very late at night and you have a busy day tomorrow!” With those as her parting words, Ellekemi seemed to disappear in the middle of the room.

They didn’t really have much of a choice than to obey the words of the lion plushie at that moment, as they were basically prisoners to the her. If they were to disobey what was said, things may not end well for them. So, without wanting to upset the person in charge of them, Keiko decided to leave the Main Tent and look for her tent to rest in. It was all she could do.

Little did she know, her obeying Ellekemi is what was going to bring disaster in the days ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please read!!
> 
> next chapter will add in free time events. i need you to pick three characters for keiko to spend her day with. please!!


	4. ATTENTION!

I will be posting this fanganronpa on instagram to help visualize the characters and everything going on. please search up @danganronpa_inthedeadofnight on instagram to keep updated with the posts!! i’ll be posting a new character each day until i actually start the writing process for it!

**Author's Note:**

> follow this twitter for more updates / art of the characters
> 
> https://twitter.com/angstycatmom
> 
> also all credit goes to kodaka and spike chunsoft for the original game "Danganronpa" this is just a fan novella with completely made up characters by me.


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